Shepparton, Victoria

Shepparton (Yorta Yorta) is located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, approximately 180 kilometres north-northeast of Melbourne. Shepparton is an agricultural and manufacturing hub and a major regional service city in the north of Victoria.

This report presents a community profile of Shepparton and surrounding communities using data from Payne and Samarage (2020). The report, ‘Spatial and Community dimensions of Income Poverty’, forms part of the Melbourne Institute’s Breaking Down Barriers report series which aims to understand poverty and disadvantage in Australia.

Shepparton and its surrounding areas are captured through five communities in our data. This report presents demographic data and poverty rate statistics as captured in our report.

Data from A. Abigail Payne and Rajeev Samarage (2020) Spatial and Community Dimensions of Income Poverty. Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

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shepparton

Key Demographics

When compared to all communities in Victoria and Australia, the Shepparton region has a slightly higher proportion of young people (under 20) and older people (above 65).
The proportion of people who identify as an Indigenous Australian is over four times as high in Shepparton compared to Victoria and slightly higher in Shepparton as compared to Australia.
Shepparton has a higher proportion of people who stayed in the same house for five years (between 2011 and 2016) than both Victoria and Australia.
The proportion of single-parent households is slightly higher in Shepparton compared to Victoria and Australia.

Employment and Education Information

When compared to all communities in Victoria and Australia, the Shepparton region has a higher proportion of people who completed High School at most and a lower proportion of people who completed University or more.
The proportion of people who are employed is lower in Shepparton compared to Victoria and Australia. The proportion of people not participating in the labour force is higher in Shepparton compared to Victoria and Australia. There is a higher proportion of unemployment or not participating in the Labour Force in Shepparton across all age groups as compared to the national and Victorian average.
Shepparton South is the only region in Shepparton to have a higher proportion of people within the 20-34 age group that have at most a High School Certificate compared to the national average.
Shepparton North has the highest proportion of people who have a University degree across all Shepparton regions. However, this is still lower than the national average.
Mooroopna has the highest proportion of people with at most a High School Certificate and the lowest proportion of people with a University degree across all Shepparton regions.
Shepparton Region – East has the highest employment in Shepparton and is the only region in Shepparton where the proportion of employment is higher than the national average. It also has a lower proportion of unemployment and a lower proportion of people not in the labour force across all age groups compared to other regions of Shepparton and the national average. This may be why it is the only Shepparton region to have a lower overall poverty rate in 2016 than the national average (see Figure 7).

Poverty Rates

When compared to Victoria and Australia, Shepparton has a higher percentage of its population experiencing overall poverty.
While this percentage increased from 18.6% in 2006 to 19.5% in 2011, it has since reduced to 17.1% in 2016. Still 2.2% higher than the national average.
While Shepparton has a higher percentage of its population experiencing overall poverty than the state and national averages, it has a lower percentage of its population experiencing extreme poverty.
In 2016, Shepparton had 3.6% of its population experiencing extreme poverty, compared to 5% in Victoria and 4.2% in Australia.
All communities of Shepparton bar one, have a higher proportion of their population experiencing overall poverty when compared to the Australian population.
As with the above, while the Shepparton region has a higher percentage of its population experiencing overall poverty than the national average, all communities of the Shepparton region experience lower extreme poverty when compared to the Australian population.
Shepparton Region – East, has a significantly lower percentage of people living in overall poverty when compared to the broader Australian population.
In 2016, Australia experienced 14.9% of people experiencing overall poverty. Shepparton Region - East only experienced 11.4% of its population.

Key Observations about the 10-year changes in Shepparton

Across all regions of Shepparton and Australia the share of the community that is 19 years or younger decreased and the share of the community that is 65+ increased in 2016 as compared to 2006.
The share of the community who is employed and of working age increased slightly in Australia but decreased across Shepparton (with the exception of Shepparton Region -East).
Unemployment or not participating in the labour force among the 50-64 age group decreased across all regions of Shepparton (except Mooroopna) and nationally.

Shepparton – South

Shepparton South had the highest decrease in share of people who are employed and of working age, and the highest increase in share of people aged 20-34 or 35-49 who are unemployed or not participating in the labour force across all Shepparton regions.
Shepparton South was the only region in Shepparton where the share of people with at most a High School Certificate increased in the 20-34 age group.

Shepparton – North

Unemployment or not participating in the labour force in Shepparton North increased for the 20-34 age group but decreased for the other groups.
Unlike other Shepparton Regions, Shepparton North did not experience a decline in the share of the working age population between 2006-2016.

Mooroopna

The proportion of Indigenous Australians and the proportion of people in the 65+ age group grew the most in Mooroopna as compared to the other Shepparton regions.
Mooroopna was the only region in Shepparton where the proportion of unemployment or not participating in the labour force increased across all three age groups (20-34, 35-49 and 50-64).
The share of the population with at most a High School Certificate decreased among the 20-34 and 35-49 age groups but increased among the 50-64 age group.

Shepparton Region – West

Unemployment or not participating in the labour force in Shepparton Region -West decreased among the 20-34 and 50-64 age groups. It had a greater decrease in both these age groups as compared to the national average.
The share of the population within the age group of 35-49 with at most a High School certificate declined more in Shepparton Region – West as compared to the other Shepparton regions.

Shepparton Region – East

Shepparton Region – East was the only region in Shepparton to experience an increase in the share of the population who was employed and of working age. This increase was three times the national average. This region also experienced a higher decrease in the proportion of people unemployed or not in the labour force than the national average. This decrease was mainly driven by the 20-34 and 50-64 age groups.
Shepparton Region – East also experienced the highest decrease across Shepparton in the proportion of people aged 20-34 who held at most a High School Certificate but the highest increase in the proportion of people aged 50-64 who held at most a High School Certificate.